17 Facts About Frank Shu

Frank Hsia-San Shu was a Chinese-American astrophysicist, astronomer, and author.

Frank Shu served as a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and University of California, San Diego.

Frank Shu is best known for proposing the density wave theory to explain the structure of spiral galaxies, and for describing a model of star formation, where a giant dense molecular cloud collapses to form a star.

Frank Shu's father, Shu Shien-Siu, was a mathematician and an instructor at the National Tsing Hua University, which, at that time due to World War II, was temporarily relocated to Kunming from Beijing.

The senior Frank Shu would serve as the President of the National Tsing Hua University from 1970 to 1975.

When Frank Shu was two months old, his father went to the United States for study and, later, work.

Frank Shu completed his BSc in physics in 1963 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Frank Shu later continued working with Lin for his PhD project, as Max Krook, his formal doctoral supervisor at Harvard University, gave him freedom in his PhD research.

Frank Shu moved to the University of California, Berkeley in 1973, and became a full professor in 1976.

Frank Shu had a brief visit at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1982.

From 1994 to 1996, Frank Shu was the President of the American Astronomical Society.

Frank Shu was named a University Professor of the University of California system in 1998, an honour that at the time was only endowed to 19 faculty members across the UC system.

In 2002, Frank Shu followed in his father's footsteps and went to Taiwan to take up the position of the President of the National Tsing Hua University, returning to the United States and joining the University of California, San Diego as a distinguished professor in 2006.

Frank Shu officially retired in 2009, becoming a University Professor Emeritus of the UC system, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Latterly, Frank Shu was an Emeritus Senior Fellow at the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study of the City University of Hong Kong.

Frank Shu wrote three textbooks: Physical Universe: An Introduction to Astronomy, The Physics of Astrophysics Vol.

Frank Shu is best known for his work in spiral galaxies and star formation.